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Seed Starting 101

It’s almost here!  The event that we have been preparing for, waiting for, all year.  Yes, this Sunday is SUPER SOW SUNDAY, the annual day that gardeners from far and wide get dirty and go online,  sowing seeds together (virtually) on Twitter.  This year boasts some great information to be shared and prizes to be won.  It’s a great event that will have some of the most amazingly talented gardeners at your disposal, if you have questions about, well anything seed-related.  More information can be found on Bren from BG Garden’s website or on the TweetChat website.

Last year in honor of #SuperSowSunday I posted about starting seeds outdoors under umbrella greenhouses, which is incredibly successful in my climate.  As part of Delish Magazine’s Spring issue, I also wrote a piece on seed starting which I thought I would share here.  Enjoy!

Seed Starting 101: 

Start your own seeds this spring and revel in your gardening wizardry

“I made this!”, I gloat while serving up a dish made entirely of food that I grew in my garden. Well, “gloat” is probably not the right word. I prance around like the fantastical wizard I am, cheering about my mad skills in making real food from tiny seeds. It took me months. I had some fatalities. But overall, it’s fairly simple to grow from seeds. And more importantly, it’s awesome.  Here are some basics for staring your own seeds at home.

Choose Your Seeds
Starting seeds early in the season is a great way to save money on annuals, which are flowers, herbs, and vegetables that will flower or fruit in the first year. More advanced propagatrixes could also start perennials from seed in many cases, but it is a more difficult and time consuming process as perennials may need many months, or years, to reach the size of a nursery plant.

Seed companies in your area should sell the right seeds for your climate, but do make sure that you pick the right plants for your experience level. If you’re a seedling yourself when it comes to propagation, don’t bother starting watermelons in Northern Ontario. Many seed companies will also list a difficulty rating that will help to guide you.

Read the Packet
Following the instructions on the seed packet will give you the best possible start unless the growing directions read like my radicchio, “sow seeds a few days after a moonless night”, which may as well be gibberish. The majority of seed instructions will list everything you need to start seeds, like when and where to sow, planting depth and spacing, special watering requirements and days to germination. Some will also list special information like germination temperatures, repeat sowing, transplanting, and thinning. Following the instructions gives you the best chance of success, so those map-hating-instruction-scoffing types out there best pack away your stubbornness for this project.

Containers
You can start seeds in just about anything you can find around the house that will create a mini-greenhouse, or you can buy all sorts of interesting setups to best suit your needs.

Greenhouse Kits
Many different greenhouse kits are available now. Most will have a plastic tray with a clear plastic greenhouse dome. Some come with a soilless mixture for starting seeds like peat pellets that expand to a mini seed pot when soaked in water, others may have coconut fiber pots that you can be transplant right along with your seedling. Others may even have a heat mat that gently warms soil to improve germination.

The beauty of these kits is that you can start a large number of seeds individually in one tray (up to 72) and many are made for small spaces like windowsills. The drawback is that the seedlings will need to be replanted either in the garden or a larger pot in a few weeks. Leaving seedlings in small pots with no nutrition will cause unwanted stress to the plants.

Seed-Starting Trays
Garden retailers will sell many different types of professional grade seed starting trays, domes, and inserts with features like root training, moisture control, automatic watering, and grow lighting. Certainly many of these features have value in starting the year’s plants off on the right foot and can be used over and over.

Household Items
An inexpensive and creative way to start seeds is to use household items as seed containers. Lining a seed tray with pots made from toilet paper tubes, newspaper, or egg cartons will cost nothing. At times your family may think you’ve gone mad given how excited you will become when you get to take home the plastic cake dome from the party. But come on, that’ll make a really great greenhouse dome, right? Search for biodegradable paper products you can plant right in the ground or food safe plastic containers you can use as mini-greenhouses for your containers if you are on a budget.

Growing Medium
You can buy a pre-made seed starter soil or you can make your own with a mix of three parts peat, two parts compost, and ten percent perlite. This mixture is light and holds moisture well, so it is wonderful for helping seeds germinate. All growing mediums will need some time to absorb water, so add moisture and let it soak in for an hour before planting.

Be sure to use sterile mix if you are starting seeds indoors. Soil or compost from the garden will bring in all sorts of critters like soil gnats which will drive you freakin’ crazy as you run around your propagation trays like a mad person swatting and squashing an endless supply of teeny tiny flies.

Moisture
Germination will be best in a moist environment for most seeds, so keeping the soil damp and a greenhouse dome on top will keep the right amount of humidity for optimal germination. Keep the soil from drying out by checking it daily. Water gently, from the bottom where possible, so as to not damage the seedlings about to emerge.

Dampening Off
Dampening off is a term for a fungal growth which looks like fuzzy hairs on the stem of the seedling. This fungal growth will kill the seedling so it’s bad, real bad. To prevent dampening off, occasionally spray with a bottle of 3% food grade hydrogen peroxide and vent the greenhouse dome on a regular basis to regulate humidity.

Light
Seeds won’t need light until they emerge from the surface of the soil, but then they will need strong sunlight for most of the day to prevent them from becoming leggy (overly tall and spindly = weak). You can supplement a lack of sunlight with florescent lighting, either buying a set of grow lights made for seed staring or by making your own with florescent shop lights.

Thinning
Generally the seed instructions will suggest you plant 2-3 seeds per pot and thin out all but the strongest. This seems to be the thing that some gardeners have the hardest time with. If three strong tomato seedlings have popped up in one tiny peat pot, then the gardener rushes off to get tweezers and separate out the three wee plants and re-pots them all. More inexperienced gardeners may damage each plant giving none a strong chance at survival, so it’s best that you grab a clean pair of scissors and snip all but the strongest seedling in each pot and be done with it.

Hardening Off
As the seedlings grow into plants and the date to plant outside is getting near, it’s time to start hardening them off, or toughening them for their natural environment. I like to start by opening a window a few hours a day so they get a breeze. Then start moving the trays outside, out of direct sunlight, for a few hours. Start at one hour and gradually increase to a full day outside. By the time your plant date has arrived, you can safely transfer your tough little soldiers directly into the ground, with some delicious compost and a thorough watering, to brave the elements on their own.

Seed starting is such an interesting and magical process, especially for children, so it’s the perfect activity to do as a family this coming spring. The months that you’ve spent germinating and raising seedlings will be a series of trial and error, so expect some loss. Not every seed will germinate, not every seedling will survive being transplanted, and not every kind of plant will do well in your garden.

The gains will be clear when you have piles of leafy greens taking up every inch of your windowsills bursting to get outside. Starting the plants off yourself ensures you are in charge of the health of the plant and can control what goes into it. And the satisfaction you’ll feel from starting your own seeds is tremendous.

from Delish Magazine Spring 2011

This project may be submitted to these wonderful link ups.

February 03 2012 | Gardening and Projects | 12 Comments »

SuperSowSunday Show & Tell

Here’s what seeds I’m starting right now (left to right) in my self watering mini greenhouses:

• Green peas for micro greens x 2
• Black oil sunflower seeds for micro greens x 2
• Violetto Artichoke (and Italian heritage variety) x 2
• Eggshells for seed starters

February 02 2012 | Gardening and Growing Food and Projects | No Comments »

Serenity Now! DIY Lavender Eye Pillows

Now making your own lavender eye pillow is not a unique concept but add linen, popcorn, an ink jet printer, and a just a dash of Seinfeld, and you got yourself a fun & funky Weekend Project, baby!

The concept behind this DIY came from 4 different ideas melded into one relaxing project:

1.  The container of lavender that I harvested this year has inspired many a project.

2.  I had some left over popcorn from making door socks a few weeks ago.  Popcorn has the perfect weight and feel for eye pillows, it doesn’t go rancid like flax and some other fillers, and it’s cheap.   Also, you can heat it in the microwave (so I hear) and it won’t pop.   Now since I don’t have a microwave, I can only assume that it won’t pop because you won’t heat it long enough.  So microwave for only 30 seconds or so and let me know how it turns out.

3. I saw a great tutorial on how to print on fabric on Modern Day Moms that I HAD to try.

4. Seinfeld is awesome.

Materials for one eye pillow:

• linen or other scrap fabric measuring 10”x 10”
• 1 cup dried popcorn
• 1 heaping tbsp dried lavender
• Ink jet printer
• Freezer Paper
• Sewing machine or needle and thread

Directions:

1.  First, fold your fabric in half and print one of the sides following the directions here.  That being said, I didn’t follow that tutorial, I just taped the fabric to a sheet of paper and fed it through my printer.  Let me be clear, I DO NOT RECOMMEND doing it that way.  It worked beautifully for me, but it can really mess up your printer so unless, like me, you want to print on fabric more than you care about your printer, do not try it at home.

2.  Fold and iron a hem on the sides of the fabric.

3.  Folding the fabric so that the back of the is on the outside (print inside), sew the long side of the together.  Turn right side out and sew one of the ends together.

4. Fill the bag with 1 generous cup of popcorn and 1 heaping tablespoon of lavender.  Adjust quantities for your personal tastes.

5. Push all the filling toward the end of the bag, and pin about halfway to help prevent popcorn from creeping towards the open end.  Sew the open end closed and you’re all done!

Thanks for visiting for the weekend’s project which may also be submitted to these parties.

January 27 2012 | Projects | 18 Comments »

Block Printed Tea Towels

Cotton flour sack tea towels are my absolute favorite in the kitchen but they need a bit of pizzazz too.  With the help of some fabric paint and a lino block or stamp, this simple project adds some sunshine to kitchen chores.  For this weekend’s project, grab some materials and make some of your own.  WARNING: printing is addictive.  Soon you will be doing napkins, placemats, table cloths, curtains, clothing….

Materials:

• Flour sack tea towels (ironed)
• Fabric Paint
• Paint roller / brushes
• Linoleum block or rubber stamp
• Old towel and large plastic bag (freezer bags are good, plastic shipping envelope used here)
• Paint tray (top of a salad box used here)
• Iron

Directions:

1.  Mix up your paint colour using fabric paints which are intended to heat set to withstand washing and use.  Roll jus

t a wee bit of paint onto your stamp or block.  A little goes a long, long way but too much paint will make your print gloopy (i.e.: bleed outside of your intended design).

2. Set up your printing area by folding the old towel over a few times and covering it with the plastic bag.  This is so there is a bit of give below the fabric you will be stamping, ensuring a nice even transfer.

3. On a piece of paper or some scrap fabric, do a test print on your bag/towel block to ensure you get the color and the amount of paint needed right.  I didn’t like the double stem on my original design so I adjusted the top before printing the fabric.  Like the results?  Then on to the next step.

4. Time to print your fabric!  Stamp it like you did the paper and set aside to dry.

5. The final step is to heat set your beautiful creations with a dry iron for about 5-10 minutes.  Once that’s done, your tea towel can be used, washed, and dried.

Here is the final design from the linoleum block that I carved (which by the way is also addictive!):

And here is the result from a rubber stamp:

This project may very well get included in the following wonderful parties.  Thanks for visiting!

January 21 2012 | Projects | 14 Comments »

Draft Stoppers: How to Make DIY Door Socks

These DIY draft socks are super simple to make, inexpensive, and work well to stop the chilly drafts from under doors or from window sills.

Oh, and they are freakin’ adorable too!  Here’s how to make your own.

Materials:

• Socks – pick nice long ones.  Men’s woolly work socks are shown here, but knee socks would also be a great choice
• Dried popcorn
• Stuffing from old pillows, an old sweater, etc
• Fabric scrap
• Sewing machine or needle and thread

Directions:

1.  Measure the length of the doorway or window you would like to use the draft sock on.  Cut a length of fabric that is 1 inch longer than your measurement and 10 inches wide (you want the sock just slightly longer than the doorway, so it fits in snugly).  Fold the fabric in half and pin.  Using your sewing machine or needle and thread sew one end and the length of the fabric so that you have a long tube that is open at one end.

2. Fill tube alternately with dried popcorn and the stuffing you have chosen.  Popcorn is used for weight, but it is also inexpensive and won’t go rancid like some other dried goods.  The stuffing helps to give the sock a nice shape and insulates against the cold air. When the tube is really packed full all the way to the end, pin the end and sew it shut.

3. Turn socks inside out and sew the heels straight so that when the sock is covering the tube, the heels don’t protrude.

4. Pull the sock over your hand still inside out.  Grab the end of the filled tube with your sock hand and unfold the sock over the tube.

5. Add the second sock of the pair to the other end, and overlap the first sock.

That’s it!  An easy, cheap, effective, and stylish door sock in no time at all.

I’ll be linking this post to these wonderful parties.

January 15 2012 | Projects | 10 Comments »

Blood Orange and Raspberry Jam Recipe

Some things seem to be drawn together organically, like the flavors of blood orange and raspberry.  It’s citrus season here now – the only time of the year blood oranges are available. Since raspberries are abundant in late summer this jam recipe has been in progress for 6 months.  Despite having very different seasons the tie between these two fruits is undeniable. When I first tasted the blood orange juice it was kind of, well, blah.  Not as sweet and vibrant as an orange, albeit the juice is beautifully rich to look at the flavor lacks punch.  But what I did taste was a slight hint, a murmur maybe, of  raspberry.  It was immediate and undeniable that these two fruits must go together.  Hence this blood orange and raspberry jam recipe was born.

First made last winter, the jars were quickly gobbled up as it is my all-time-favorite jam of all time.  Then in the summer when raspberries were ripe and ready, I hunted for blood oranges.  In this day and age of abundance I though someone might stock a few.  Nope.  I settled for making the recipe with cape gooseberries and it was good.  Just not my all-time-favorite of all time.

But now it’s time, my friends, time for blood orange and raspberry jam.  Finally.  Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• enough  blood oranges to get 4 cups freshly-squeezed juice
• 4 cups raspberries
• 3-4 cups sugar (this really depends on your preferences and how sweet the fruit is) I used 3 cups and my jam is perfectly sweet and tart
• cheesecloth

Directions: 

• Put a couple of plates in the freezer.
• Juice those bloody oranges until you get 4 cups.  Take all the membrane and seeds out of the peels and tie into a square of cheesecloth (I used a 4-ply thickness of cheesecloth, i.e. a large square folded in half twice).  Tie the ends of the cheesecloth around a large wooded spoon.  This is your pectin bag.
• Add juice to a large pot with the raspberries and sugar and bring to a boil on medium-high.  Stir frequently.  Hang bag of orange guts from the edge of the pot.  I rigged up something with a chopstick and a clip on the side of the pot, but the large wooden spoon works great too.
• When boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and continue boiling and stirring until reduced.   Remove pectin bag and let cool.  When cool enough to handle, squeeze the bag so that a creamy gel comes out of the pores of the cheesecloth – that’s your pectin!  Scrape the pectin back into the jam and stir.  Then you can discard the bag and membranes.

• Jam is ready when it passes the gel test: put a spoonful of the jam on a plate from the freezer.  When the jam has cooled, drag your finger through the middle of the glob.  If it spreads back into a puddle, it isn’t gelled yet.  If your finger mark stays put, then your jam is ready to be canned.
• Process 125ml (aka 1/2 cup) jars for 5 minutes, or 250ml (aka 1 cup jars) for 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

In other news, just as these flavors came together organically, it seems that right at the same time I’m all ramped up about citrus, I have a few new Garden Therapy Handmade pillows to launch.  This one seemed particularly fitting to announce today, given the citrus-y color of the crocosmia blooms.  For those of you who haven’t yet, please visit the Garden Therapy Handmade shop and take a look at all the bright-colored blooms.  Hopefully they will bring some cheer to your winter’s days.

I’ll be linking this post to these wonderful parties.

January 14 2012 | Canning and Garden Therapy Handmade and Harvest and Projects | 7 Comments »

Garden Therapy’s Best of 2011

2011 was without a doubt an exciting year full of garden therapy.  It all began with some Proposals for a New Year which really launched the Weekend Project series of tutorials that go up each and every week.  It took a little while to get a groove going, but now Garden Therapy is loaded with crafty/garden-y/foodie projects that will hopefully inspire you to dig in.  After all of the blood, dirt, and paper cuts it was hard to choose the best of 2011.  Nonetheless, here they are.

1. Garden Therapy Handmade Shop Opens!  

Opening the new Etsy shop to sell a hand crafted line of floral throw pillows was by far the most exciting thing that happened this year.   The Studio Blooms line of throw pillows started from flowers grown in my gardens which were then photographed in macro, blown up to mammoth proportions, and printed on fabric using the giclée technique.  Each pillow represents a piece of artwork for your home,  yet  artwork you can cuddle up to and read a book on.  Every step was carefully (obsessively?) planned out and executed, so the final cushions are truly show-stopping.

A labour of love that took well over a year and a half to launch, it’s been a great success so far and I have very high hopes for 2012.  Look for new designs, new products, and new locations where you can buy Garden Therapy Handmade in the coming year.  And remember, each design is a limited edition so please snap them up before they are all gone.

2. Free Printable Canning Labels  

It seems a shame to put so much love into a a jam, jelly, or pickle to then just label the lid with a sharpie.  These printable canning labels are also meant for the canning jar’s snap lid so it get’s recycled when the lid does with no sticky glue to soak off the glass jar.  Oh, and did I mention they are free?  Yup, just download and print ‘em on label paper.  You’re welcome.

3. The Natural Skincare Series

While making bath and body care products isn’t technically gardening, these projects all honour nature by using only natural essential oils, colourings, and other ingredients.  Tutorials for handmade cold process soap, bath bombs, sugar scrub, bath salts, and lip balm were incredibly popular and made amazing holiday gifts.  Good news, there will be more recipes and tutorials to come in 2012!

4. Candles in Many Shapes and Forms

The first candles to be posted were these Citronella CAN-dles.  And while no bugs bit me while they were alight, I was bitten by the candle-making bug!  Soy and beeswax jar candles followed which were beautiful in their simplicity.  The real star of the show, however, was the beeswax flower jar candles, where a 3-dimensional beeswax surprise hides under the lid of these.  A perfect holiday gift, although so far, those who have them have not wanted to burn them and watch the flower melt away.  To that I say, light away and make more…and here’s how.

5. The Grinch Tree, Whoville Party and & Holiday Decorations

Speaking of the holidays, the Grinch tree was the singing Who’s that warmed up my Grinchy demeanour this holiday season.  Feeling a little blue and growly before the holidays, I didn’t want to put up a Christmas tree this year.  The compromise was to decorate a tree that mirrored the feelings, and the Grinch tree was born.  And just like the movie, my spirits warmed up and the true meaning of Christmas was revealed: to make festive holiday planters and decorate the house and throw a Whoville-themed party!  Thanks, Grinchy.

6. Wreath Making

There is always a wreath on the Garden Therapy front door, and maybe another few scattered around the garden.  Tutorials for Making an Evergreen Wreath, Lavender Wreath, and Halloween Hop Wreath were easy and fun projects that didn’t cost a penny.  Love!

7. Halloween Planters, Jack-o-Planterns, & Rock Spiders

Now that Hop Wreath wasn’t the only Halloween decoration this year.  Scaaary planters with severed hands, witch’s brooms, and kale (OK, not too scary) were unique natural decorations.  But nothing was as fun as the Jack-o-planterns and DIY Rock Spiders (sorry, Elisabeth, I know they freak you out).

8. Concrete Garden Projects

Being lucky enough to receive a review copy of Concrete Garden Projects: Easy & Inexpensive Containers, Furniture, Water Features & More meant a fun afternoon making modern planters and leaf-print stepping stones.  I’m totally addicted now!

9. Jammin’ Recipes

Not as much canning happened as normally does, but there were still some fantastic recipes this year: Winter Marmalade, Black & Blue Berry Jam, and Bourbon Cranberry Sauce topped the list.

10. Tangerine Tango

The final highlight of 2011 was the announcement of Pantone’s 2012 colour of the year, Tangerine Tango which will undoubtedly be a popular colour in fashion and home décor (already seeing it everywhere!) but there are also some pretty cool plants that can spice up your garden.  Also cool, a set of Studio Blooms pillows rocks out in Tangerine Tango.  Hmmm.  That is a really great way to start of 2012.

Thank you to everyone who has visited in 2011 and I so very much hope that you will be back this year.  Happy gardening!

I’ll be linking this post to these wonderful parties.

January 03 2012 | Canning and Garden Therapy and Garden Therapy Handmade and Gardening and Growing Food and Projects | 22 Comments »

Pinecone Bird Feeders

This weekend’s project is a going up a little bit late.  With New Years Eve 2011 just now behind us, perhaps we are all moving a bit slower than usual.  Nonetheless, this pinecone birdfeeder project is super simple & family-friendly and will get you outside for a little garden therapy, even in the cold.  It seems like the right way to start off the year.

Materials:

• Dried, open pinecones
• Peanut butter
• Garden wire, twine or ribbon
• Mixed birdseed
• Plastic containers or plates, spoons, and scissors

Instructions:

1.  Pick out a pinecone that has dried and opened up.

2. Tie a length wire or twine around the perimeter of the top third of the pinecone and secure firmly.  Close the loop at the top by tying a knot or twisting securely, so that the pinecone feeder won’t fall out of the tree when birds are sitting on it.

3. Using a spoon, spread/smoosh/smear peanut butter into the crevices of the pinecone.  You don’t need a whole lot of peanut butter; just enough glopped around it will allow the birdseed to stick.

4.  Pour birdseed into container. Place the peanut butter-covered pinecone in the seed and toss the seed over top and all around.  Really get in there and pack the seeds into the crevices and stick it to the outsides.  The finished product will look like a little seed ball.

5. Decorate with ribbons if you would like, then hang them in the trees and wait for the birds to come.  It won’t be long.

I’ll be linking this project to these wonderful parties. Happy New Year!

January 01 2012 | Gardening and Projects | 15 Comments »

Blueberry & Blackberry Infused Vodka + New Year’s Eve Cocktail Recipes

If you are having a  New Year’s Eve bash this year, infused vodkas make a festive basis for some fabulous cocktails.  Or perhaps you are lucky enough to be attending a soiree held by someone else?  A fruity infused vodka makes a perfect hostess gift and is much more original than wine.  Start them now and they’ll be perfectly flavour-infused by the big night.

Berry Infused Vodka Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of berries such as blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, strawberry
• 1 lemon
• 1 whole vanilla bean
• 1L (750ml) of inexpensive vodka

Directions:

1. Using a vegetable peeler, peel off 3-4 strips of lemon rind.  Use the back of a paring knife to remove as much pith (white stuff) as you can.  Pith = bitter.  Add rind to a large mason jar.
2. Add berries to jar and mash lightly.  Spilt vanilla bean in half an add it as well.
3. Pour the entire bottle of vodka over the mixture, seal with a lid and shake.  Leave in a cool, dark place for 3 days.
4. After 3 days, strain the infused vodka through a fine strainer or medium cheesecloth into a bottle.  Repeat straining in a finer cheesecloth for a clearer liquid (optional).

New Year’s Eve Cocktails

Blueberry Nights

• 1 oz blueberry infused vodka
• 1/2 oz brandy
• 1/2 oz ginger syrup
• 3 oz soda

Blackberry Royale

• 6 oz champagne
• 1/2 oz blackberry infused vodka
• 1/2 oz simple syrup
• garnish with floating cranberries

I’ll be linking this project to these wonderful parties.

Happy New Year!

December 28 2011 | Projects and Recipes | 14 Comments »

Merry Christmas: A Whoville Party

Inspired by the festive Grinch Tree that graces the Garden Therapy house, we threw a Whoville-themed holiday open house for friends and neighbours.  A little kitchy, with many natural elements, and a retro vibe all rolled up into one makes for this theme.

The party table was loaded with retro ribbon candies, scotch mints, nuts in the shells, colourful shortbread cookies, and lots of nibblies.  Vegetables were served in vases, and the cheese, of course, was accompanied by a selection of homemade preserves.

Old Grinchy took center stage.

Natural yew, cedar, and ivy decorated the mantle with a simple string of lights, a few pinecone balls, some scrabble tiles, and a dried Schubertii Allium seed head.

The final decorations were crystal ornaments hung from our bare bulb chandelier.  Inside some of the glass balls were mini pinecones, mushrooms from past foraging, and owl feathers from the Snowies at Boundary Bay.

It was a wonderful party with plenty of laughs.

Here’s to happy holidays all around.  Merry Christmas and sleep well with the thoughts that gardening season will is just around the corner.

December 25 2011 | Projects | 9 Comments »